It’s simple, Georgia football players must make better decisions

Reports surfaced Friday morning about a Georgia football player turning himself in after an incident that involved a TikTok challenge.

Throughout the years, players have gotten caught up with things in Athens or surrounding Athens, and it’s past time to make better decisions.

Enough is enough.

This column isn’t a dig at that young man for his actions or any of the others. I’m talking about making better decisions in general and realize even though they are football players, it doesn’t make them invincible to things.

They have gotten this opportunity, and they need to stay out of trouble. These players need to make better decisions about who they interact with, hang out with outside of football, and when they shouldn’t do silly social media trends.

Georgia football players have too much going for them to make silly decisions that could get them in trouble.

The coaches can only do so much for their players, and at the end of the day, they are grown men who make their own choices. Why would anyone want to throw away that opportunity?

I’m not including any names because, again, I’m not degrading any of these players.

Georgia has had issues with players making questionable choices in the past, and most have been almost harmless, but there have been a few that were serious.

College is about having fun and large social lives, but it should be different for student-athletes. They have strict schedules to abide by, so how do any of them have time to put themselves into these situations?

Also, these TikTok trends with “guns” are just asking for issues. Social media trends should be fun and not dangerous. It isn’t worth doing if it could put you or others around you at risk.

What happened to the harmless dance trends? Better yet, I follow a Georgia football player on TikTok, and there is no violence on there. He discusses his life as a student-athlete.

Georgia already is on notice for being the national champions, so any time a player does anything — good or bad — the media will publicize it. Journalists have a job to do, and reporting when players get arrested is part of that, but at what point will these kids stop making questionable decisions.

The word kids is a push too because they are all 18-years-old and above, the latest being a junior, so there is no excuse good enough for it.

Sure it’s boring to go to your dorm after practice, but it keeps you out of trouble — even then, there have been some questionable instances. It’s all about making smart choices to keep that opportunity given to you in good standing. No one wants to see these talented kids take a wrong turn. Georgia wants to see its players succeed, graduate, and do something with their lives.

Football gives them that opportunity, but doing stupid things like what we’ve seen in Kirby Smart’s era has been inexcusable. Always have a friend around at a party so others cannot accuse people of doing things.

Heck, stay away from girls if they are questionable. Get verbal and written consent from significant others and keep that around — don’t share videos of intimate moments and be smart about everything.

Georgia football players have it made, but at the same time, if they put themselves into sticky situations, it’s hard to keep them out of trouble. We’re not saying be a hermit and have a boring college experience, and we’re just saying to think about who gets allowed into the personal circle.

Making smart decisions and being disciplined about that as much as they are about things on the field would help eliminate this issue. Georgia football players are better than this, and some of these mistakes do not define who they are as a person, but at the same time, it’s easier to say no than it is to get bailed out of jail.